Chapter 14

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep that night but in the end it wasn't worrying about my friends that kept me awake. I'd barely had time to unlock the office door when a woman came up the steps behind me, calling for help. The sound of her voice let me know she was scared and worried. She carried a young boy in her arms.

"Bring him in here," I called back to her as I pushed open the door. I hastily spread a clean sheet on the old examination table and told her to lay him there.

The boy was about eight or nine years old, but skinny and frail looking for a child of his age. The woman looked equally frail and undernourished but had that strength that mothers so often find when difficult times come along.

I carefully unbuttoned the boy's shirt and could already feel the heat from his small body before I even had time to lay a hand on him.

"How long's he had this fever Mrs..."

"Jessop, Lizzie Jessop Doc. Don't you remember me?"

I looked at her carefully. Indeed it was Lizzie Jessop but she had aged so much in just a few years that I barely recognized her. Working that old farm alone had worn her down. I remembered how her husband and a friend of his had tried to hold up a stage about four years ago. I think it had been more in desperation than anything else. Of course they both received a prison sentence of five years.

"Billy's been working so hard helping me with the farm Doc. He got sick a few days back but tried to keep going. Yesterday evening he collapsed on the bed and I couldn't wake him. I know'd he was fevered but I couldn't break it so I put him in the wagon and brought him to you. I'm sorry, Doc, I don't have any money but..."

"You don't need money Mrs. Jessop." I pulled a chair nearer to the table where Billy lay and encouraged her to sit. Before I checked her boy I poured some coffee into one of the mugs hanging by the stove, and handed it to her. "You drink that while I examine Billy."

It didn't take me long. The boy's high fever and the fact that I couldn't rouse him, together with his groan when I moved his head, made the diagnosis easy.

"It's brain fever isn't it Doc?" she asked. "At first I thought he'd been outside in working in the sun too long. We were trying to plough up the north field to get ready for crops in the spring. It's always good if the upturned soil gets some frost on it."

I folded the stethoscope and carefully returned it to my medical bag. It gave me a few seconds to think.

"It certainly could be brain fever," I told her carefully. "I think you brought him just in time, Mrs. Jessop." I laid a hand on her shoulder trying to reassure her that I'd do everything I could to get Billy well again.

The boy grew restless and was calling for his mother. "You stay there and keep him as still as you can," I told her. "I have some medicine that will help break his fever."

I knew I had a small bottle of Tincture of Willow bark at the back of the medicine cabinet. I didn't want to give the boy Quinine but it might come to that if this didn't work. I found the bottle and added about a teaspoon of the liquid to a small amount of water.

"Here," I said to Mrs. Jessop, passing her the mug, "see if you can get him to take this while I go to get some ice."

Sam was already turning the key to lock the outside doors of the Long Branch when I got there. Good man that he is, he was more than willing to go down to the cellar and procure a bucket of ice for me. By the time I got back to the office Billy's mother had already got Billy to take the medicine I gave her, and I hoped it would start to have an effect soon. Meantime I tied small quantities of ice in bandages and placed them behind the boy's neck and around his chest. I had no medicine that would treat the infection itself but if I could get his fever down the boy's own body would have a chance to take care of it. The problem was he was so frail and undernourished to begin with.

Mrs. Jessop looked tired. I wanted her to go lay down in the back bedroom but of course she refused.

"He's all I've got left Doc. I'm gonna have ta stay with him."

"Do you hear from your husband?"

"Yes, he writes almost every month. We went to visit a while back but it's a long way Doc. We can't go often."

"I understand, " I said, remembering how Matt blamed himself for Joe Jessop going to prison. There were times when the marshal didn't like that badge he wore and the pressures it put on him. Despite that he always upheld the law and applied it honestly and without favor to the best of his ability. The trial had been a fair one and the sentence not excessive but we all knew what it would mean for Joe's family. After the prison wagon left town that evening with Jessop on board Matt came to my office. We tried to play checkers but that was only an excuse. He really needed a few shots of whiskey and someone to listen and tell him he did what he had too. Even Joe didn't hold him responsible and actually thanked him for treating him well while he'd been in the jail. The thought of Matt brought me back to my friends in Denver and I hoped and prayed that they were all safe.

Mrs. Jessop and I sat with Billy all that night. Near morning I gave him a second dose of the Tincture of Willow Bark. An hour or more later his fever broke and I was hopeful that he'd recover. As soon as it was daylight I left Billy and his mother and walked across to Ma Smalley's to arrange a room for them both. Ma said she would be happy to accommodate her and the boy but I gave her enough money to cover the cost for four days anyway. I figured it would take that long before I felt it safe for him to go home. I also gave her a little extra and told her to make sure they both ate well.

By the time I got back to the office Billy was laying there talking to his mother. I asked him a few questions which he answered as correctly as I would expect from a boy of his age and background. It seemed to me that he was doing well. He denied any headache and only complained of being hungry and thirsty. I sent Mrs. Jessop over to Ma's to get breakfast and told her to bring some broth back for Billy.

She'd barely left my office before Festus came barging in waving a telegram.

"Miss Kitty done sent this for ya' Doc. Ya' wanna read it now?"

"Of course I do," I snapped back. I pulled out my spectacles and hooked the wires behind my ears before taking the pale brown sheet of paper from him.

"Waal what's it say?"

"Give me a minute!"

It was from Kitty and addressed to me. It was very short, just three words.

Leaving Denver tomorrow

Of course I was disappointed that it didn't say more but I understood why she didn't want to give details. At least they would be home in a few days.

"She says they'll be leaving Denver tomorrow," I told the anxiously waiting deputy.

"Golly Bill Doc, I already knew that. Ya' sure there's nothin else on that there telegraph paper?"

"I'm sure, Festus. How come you know that much already?" Sometimes his ability to discover things amazed me, just like that time he found the old gun and three bullets even after Mace Gore's men had taken possession of every weapon in Dodge.

"Fiddle! That part t'was easy - I jes' talked with Dan Harley down at th' depot. He knows ever'thin'. Ya' have ta know th' right questions is all."

"So what questions did you ask?"

"I asked him if ol' Matthew was comin' back on th' Denver train. He said that they'll be a travelin' tomorra' because th' marshal was needin' an empty baggage car."

Those words sent chills through my spine. Too many bad memories of that fated baggage car on our first trip to Denver were still fresh in my mind.

'He didn't say why Matt needed an empty baggage car?"

"O' course not, Doc." The deputy added a touch of exasperation to his voice as if I'd asked a totally ignorant question. "He deals with making' sure th' right carriages an' rollin' stock is in th' right place at th' right time, don'cha know. He don't know why it has to be there."

I shook my head. All the wonders of the telegraph seemed unnecessary when Festus had his own sources of information. I had to content myself with the knowledge that Kitty and Matt would be home in three days. If anything were badly wrong I'm sure she would have found a way to let me know.

Billy recovered with amazing speed. By evening his fever was down and he wanted to go to the boarding house with his Ma. Children had such remarkable abilities to recover. It never ceased to amaze me.

I dined alone that evening and was grateful for the solitude. It gave me time to think over the happenings of the day. One good thing was that Billy Jessop was improving. I wished that Matt and Kitty were back in town. I couldn't rest easy with them both being gone for this long - especially with some crazed killer on the loose and Matt Dillon determined to track him down.

()()()

Two days can pass very slowly when you're waiting. Of course my practice kept me busy so I didn't have time to sit and think for too long at a stretch. That didn't mean I forgot about the danger my friends were in.

In the odd moments when I wasn't working, my mind went to Denver. I tried to imagine how Matt and Kitty were doing and of course that included Amos Hockley as well. I always worried about Kitty although I knew Matt would do whatever it took to prevent any harm coming to her. I had to remember that Kitty had a fighting spirit of her own which had helped her survive the multiple dangers that came with owning a saloon and being known as "the marshal's woman". To my mind Matt led a charmed existence. I'd seen him face all kinds of desperate circumstances but somehow he managed to defy the odds and pull through. As for Amos Hockley, I'd only met him the few times he'd passed through Dodge but the fact he'd saved Matt's life on at least one occasion made him a good friend to have around.

()()()

That first day passed with the usual variety of patients passing through the office. I didn't have to go out of town, which gave me the opportunity to catch up on some much needed sleep. In the evening Mrs. Jessop came and told me that she and Billy were planning to head home the following morning. The boy seemed to be doing fine now and they needed to get back to the farm. I agreed it would be all right to do so but the boy should continue to rest up for a few more days. Somehow I knew that wouldn't happen but there wasn't much I could do about it. Working a small farm took all the hours God sent.

"Bring him to see me in the morning before you leave, " I told her. "Yes Doc." she agreed, but I wouldn't be surprised if they left town before the sun was up.

Somehow I wasn't too hungry that evening. I sat alone in the office and opened a journal I'd been trying to find time to read. My eyes read the words but my mind wasn't taking them in. I kept imagining my friends in Denver. Things must be coming to a head by now and most likely Matt and Amos were off somewhere tracking those killers. I knew it was a job that had to be done and they were two of the best lawmen to do it, but nonetheless I wished Kitty were here in Dodge where there were other friends around her. That uneasy feeling haunted me for the rest of the night.

TBC